


Sovenance

by shobogan



Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Closeted, F/F, Friends to Lovers, Pre-Crisis, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-14
Updated: 2014-03-14
Packaged: 2018-01-15 17:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1313284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shobogan/pseuds/shobogan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barbara gives Kara's eulogy. There's a lot she doesn't say.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sovenance

**Author's Note:**

> The content of Barbara's speech is taken from _Crisis on Infinite Earths_ 7.

When Clark asks her to give Kara's eulogy, she thinks he knows. But no – he simply tells her that she was Kara's best friend. She's not sure if she's relieved or disappointed, but still, she agrees. She strides to the podium and faces a sea of symbols, and she speaks of her _friend_. 

"Kara is a hero without equal."

Barbara doesn’t say that the first sight of Supergirl – radiant with power as she struggled in the sky – took her breath away. That her first instinct – as a very new, very human vigilante – was to race to her aid. That it had never faded. 

She doesn't talk about their time in the Fifth Dimension, battling reality itself, staying side by side until they found a way home. 

_Nothing is right. None of the facts of the world she'd stowed so meticulously away match the reality in front of her. The dizzying frustration very nearly overwhelms her._

_Only Supergirl's hand, warm and strong in her own, keeps her grounded, keeps her focused._

_Together, they learn the new rules and twist them to their advantage._

She doesn't talk about their first date.

_Barbara isn't used to being nervous, isn't accustomed to flushed cheeks and sweaty palms. Kara seems to find it cute; she's not sure if it's flattering or annoying._

_They're not in Gotham, which helps. They're in Midvale, the town where Kara grew up after finding herself on Earth. (Barbara had some choice words for Superman, after finding out he stuck her in an orphanage.) It's a cozy little restaurant, and everyone seems to know Linda Danvers._

_“Your usual, honey?” The waitress has a kind voice and a kinder smile, and Barbara feels her shoulders relax._

_“Make it two, Girda. And some ice cream sodas.”_

_“You got it.” Barbara could swear Girda winks at her before disappearing into the kitchen, but she can't be sure._

_They'll end up visiting a lot, over the years. It turns out Girda and the owner, Marie, are a bit more than friends, too._

"She was often my confidante and always my friend." 

Kara flew her to a graveyard in Chicago several times a year. She always made time, somehow.

_“I miss you.”_

_It's how she ends every conversation, as she kneels at her mother's grave. Today, she talked about finding her footing as an associate director, and the new restaurants popping up in Gotham, and Batman's new Robin. She likes to think, sometimes, that someone can hear her._

_It's soothing, either way. It helps her to stay connected with her memories. (She never forgets anything, but there's a difference between keeping pictures in your mind and voices in your heart.)_

_Kara always waits - not out of earshot, not for her, but Barbara knows she makes an effort not to listen. Then they link arms and visit the local cafés and bistros, sipping strawberry shakes and talking about everything they've lost, everything they've found._

_She will sleep soundly, these nights, and dream of quiet lullabies._

Kara taught her Kryptonian; Barbara taught her Latin. Together, they studied art and history and politics and music. 

Kara reminded her, at her lowest, that her feelings were nothing to be ashamed of.

_Kara has her arms crossed, mouth pressed in a thin line. Her voice is stern, sternner than Barbara's ever heard it. "If it were anyone else – anyone else – you would tell them that that it didn't matter what the world thought. What their parents would think. That love is love, and they're not letting anyone down by sharing it."_

_Her gaze softens as she steps forward, reaching out to clutch Barbara's shoulders._

_"Especially sharing it with someone like you."_

And yet here she is, speaking of her _friend_. Because Kara is the last daughter of Krypton, and Barbara is the only daughter of the commissioner. Because Kara had to deal with college and Barbara had to deal with congress. Because Supergirl and Batgirl had to maintain a certain sort of image; had to be for everyone.

"Kara was a hero who, yes, cared about herself, but always seemed to care more for others."

She remembers coming home from a long day of demanding and debating to find Kara waiting for her.

_She's not surprised, any more, to come home and find Kara lounging on her couch. Her wig is tossed on the side table, and her sweater vest is half undone._

_“Just make yourself comfortable.” Barbara is grinning as she strides inside, trying to stretch the kinks out of her shoulders._

_“Always. Need a backrub?” Kara flexes her fingers, and Barbara shakes her head._

_“Need to get some paperwork done, first.”_

_“I thought you knew how to multitask.” Kara is already floating up off the couch and hovering after her. She could argue, of course, but they both know how it will end._

_She tries her best to look annoyed as she sets her suitcase on the kitchen table._

_“Okay, but no peeking. This is all very confidential.”_

_“Cross my heart and hope to die.”_

"It is easy to dismiss the something special that made her a hero because she had powers far beyond those of mortal men..." 

She accepted so easily that she could learn more, and was so careful when Barbara taught her. 

_She should be smug, maybe, about knocking a super-powered alien onto her backside, but Barbara's a bit overcome with how adorable she looks. Her hair's whisping all over her face, her lower lip is stuck out in indignation, and her cheeks are flushed._

_“Well, I guess that's one way to dodge.” Kara glares at her for half a second, before grinning ruefully._

_“You're paying for the dry cleaning, just so you know.”_

"But a hero is not measured by what her power may be…but by the courage she shows in living, and the warmth in her heart."

For the first time, her breath catches in her throat. Her knuckles, she's sure, have long turned white beneath the golden kevlar. 

She closes her eyes, and thinks of Kara's hands on her shoulders, and takes another breath.

"Let her courage be our courage, and let her hope give us hope." 

It was Kara who gave her the strength to persevere through the Crisis, who reminded her that humans could be heroes. 

_Batgirl shivers in the chill air, hands clenched around a crumbling gargoyle as she watches the stars twist and tear. She's feared for her life before, confronted her own assassination, but she's never felt so_ helpless _. It's easy, now, to doubt herself; to let despair drain her courage away._

_Calling Supergirl was more instinct than intent; Kara has been a constant in her life for years now, a steady warmth, a flame that would never go out. She needs that, right now, and she's selfish enough to ask for it after months of silence. They've both been so busy, and now none of it matters._

_Except it does. Kara reminds her of all the people still fighting, of everything they're fighting_ for _. She leaves to rescue them without a moment's thought – and Barbara wonders, for a moment, why on Earth she hasn't been doing the same. What this fear has turned her into._

_She's going to be a hero again._

"Kara is a hero." 

Barbara swallows hard, and lets her hand slip from the podium. 

"She will not be forgotten."

No one else will ever know, but Barbara will remember.


End file.
